Spinal epidural hematoma after spinal manipulation therapy:Report of three cases and a literature review

BACKGROUND Spinal manipulation therapy(SMT)has been widely used worldwide to treat musculoskeletal diseases,but it can cause serious adverse events.Spinal epidural hematoma(SEH)caused by SMT is a rare emergency that can cause neurological dysfunction.We herein report three cases of SEH after SMT.CASE SUMMARY The first case was a 30-year-old woman who experienced neck pain and numbness in both upper limbs immediately after SMT.Her symptoms persisted after 3 d of conservative treatment,and she was admitted to our hospital.Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)demonstrated an SEH,extending from C6 to C7.The second case was a 55-year-old man with sudden back pain 1 d after SMT,numbness in both lower limbs,an inability to stand or walk,and difficulty urinating.MRI revealed an SEH,extending from T1 to T3.The third case was a 28-year-old man who suddenly developed symptoms of numbness in both lower limbs 4 h after SMT.He was unable to stand or walk and experienced mild back pain.MRI revealed an SEH,extending from T1 to T2.All three patients underwent surgery after failed conservative treatment.The three cases recovered to ASIA grade E on day 5,1 wk,and day 10 after surgery,respectively.All patients returned to normal after 3 mo of follow-up.CONCLUSION SEH caused by SMT is very rare,and the condition of each patient should be evaluated in full detail before operation.SEH should be diagnosed immediately and actively treated by surgery.

Advances in Research of Simple Obesity and Its Manipulative Therapy in Recent Ten Years

The simple obesity is a common clinical disease and its incidence is increasing year by year.With the increasing pace of work,increasing pressure,and changing eating habits,the incidence of simple obesity tends to be younger.Among the treatment protocols for this disease,TCM manipulative(Tuina)therapy has remarkable curative effect and few adverse reactions,and has been well recognized.Modern research has also proposed a variety of treatment protocols with different characteristics and good curative effects.This paper reviews the related literature on simple obesity and its manipulative therapy in the past ten years,and summarizes its disease name,etiology and pathogenesis,manipulation and related therapies,so as to provide new ideas and new angles for the treatment of the simple obesity.

Is Manipulative Therapy Clinically Necessary for Relief of Neck Pain？A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective：To summarize and critically assess the efficacy of Eastern and Western manipulative therapies for the treatment of neck pain in adults. Methods：A search of Pub Med/MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Clinical Trials.gov, EMBASE, etc. from their inception date to January 2014 with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean databases. Two reviewers independently selected randomized controlled trials（RCTs） with negative control or blank control, extracted data and assessed methodological quality. Meta-analysis and levels of evidence were performed by Revman5.1 and Grades of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation（GRADE） approach. Results：Nineteen clinical trials with adequate randomization were included in this review, 11 of them had a low risk of bias. The primary outcome for shortterm pain had no significant differences, however, the secondary outcome, only the Numerical Pain Rating Scale（NPRS） score of intermediate-term [n=916, pooled mean differences（MD） =–0.29, P=0.02], the Neck Disability Index（NDI） score of short-term（n=1,145, pooled MD=–2.10, P〈0.01）, and intermediate-term（n=987, pooled MD=–1.45, P=0.01） were significantly reduced with moderate quality evidence. However, it supported the minimally clinically important difference（MCID） of the Visual Analogue Scale and NPRS pain score to be 13 mm, while NDI was 3.5 points. The meta-analysis only suggested a trend in favor of manipulative therapy rather than clinical significance. Conclusions：The results do not support the existing evidences for the clinical value of Eastern or Western manipulative therapy for neck pain of short-term follow-up according to MCIDs. The limitations of our review related to blinding, allocation concealment and small sample size.